1200 Calorie Diet Menu for August

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It’s been a little while since I’ve shared a new 1200 calorie diet menu. Yesterday I tested some mini meals to include on a new menu. My husband was out of town so I had more leeway to have fun with this and try what I wanted! I love simple easy to prepare low-calorie meals. I think you’ll find what I have to share today to be easy yet surprisingly tasty and nutritious as well as low calorie. It is a high iron menu due in part to the Wheat Chex cereal I chose to include for breakfast. If getting too much iron is a potential problem for you, I would encourage you to substitute a different cold cereal. I’ve been keeping up with my daily walking quite well. So I was able to add an additional 200 calories to my meals and snacks for this basic 1200 calorie menu. Getting to eat more food is a good reward for exercise in my opinion! What do you think? Do you remember to take into account the calories you burn with exercise? If you want to learn more about your total calorie needs when on a low calorie diet or if you need a refresher, you may want to review my article: 1200 Calorie Diet: Getting Started. That article will give you all the basics. Or if you want more in depth information you may want to read another article of mine: 1200 Calorie Diet: How to Make it Work for You! Sample Menu for 1200 Calories #14 Breakfast 1 bowl Wheat Chex Cereal (3/4 cup ~160 calories) 1/2 cup blueberries 8 oz. skim milk 1/2 cup orange juice Snack 1 stick mozzarella string cheese (80 calories each) Lunch Easy Pizza: [1 Honey Wheat Pita (about 6 inches in diameter, 180 calories) 1/2 medium tomato (about 1/2 cup) very thinly sliced tomato (layer on top of the pita bread) 6 slices turkey breast (Oscar Mayer, shaved slices 50 calories) chop into smaller pieces and scatter on top of the tomato slices 1/4 cup Reduced Fat Shredded Mozzarella (Sargento, 80 calories) spread over the turkey and tomato slices. Instead of the mozzarella you might try the Sargento low fat 4 cheese reduced fat shredded Mexican also 80 calories for 1/4 cup. I think I tried this once for a small homemade pizza topping and it had more flavor and appeal than the reduced fat mozzarella. Season with oregano or pizza seasoning. Bake about 15 minutes or so at 375 degrees in a toaster oven.] water, unsweetened tea or coffee, or diet soda Snack Low Fat Peach Yogurt (or flavor of your choice, Stonyfield Farms, 130 calories) Supper Veggie Frittata: [1/2 cup egg substitute (99% egg whites, 60 calories) 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil About 1 cup of mixed vegetables lightly steamed or cooked in a microwave (chop up fresh or use a frozen mix) See link below for more information. Seasoning (I used an organic season-all blend with sea salt.] 1 cup Sweet Cherries If you would like directions on how to make a basic frittata, I ran across a good article on the New York Times yesterday: How to Make a Frittata Hopefully the article is still accessible without you having to log in. I joined the site a while ago because I like to stay informed with their health and fitness information. It’s free to join.) water, unsweetened tea or coffee, or diet soda (Always remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day.) Total Calories = 1206 Total Fiber = 23.6 grams Fat = 17% Carbs = 60% Protein = 23% Calcium = 1235 mg (Women between 19 and 50 years need approximately 1,000 mg a day, 51+ need 1,200 mg a day) Iron = 22.2 mg (Women 19 to 50 years need 18 mg of iron, 51+ need 8 mg) 1500 Calorie Diet Menu Modify the 1200 Calorie Diet Menu. As I mentioned earlier, this menu is high in iron. So if you are post-menopausal you may want to substitute a breakfast cereal that has less iron. Otherwise this is a well-balanced menu. You might increase the amount you eat (portion size) or add whatever you might like for the additional 300 calories that will fit your needs. Both the frittata and the pita bread pizza offer a lot of possibilities for variation. Choose healthy ingredients and create your own unique versions. Let me know how it works out! Till next time, watch your calories and eat healthy! calories weight loss calories, weight loss1200 calorie diet 1200 calories sample menu diet 1200 meal plan 1500 calorie diet

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Low Calorie Fruit: 100 Calories or Less

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It’s mid-summer and fresh fruit is abundant! Gotta love it! Fresh or otherwise, fruit makes a healthy choice for snacks as well as side dishes or desserts. If you are like me, it becomes a substitute for many of the less than healthy sweets such as candy, cakes, pies, cookies, and more. However, as healthy as fruit may be, it’s all too easy to overdo a good thing. Image via Wikipedia Fruit is NOT calorie free. The calories do add up. I’ve put together a list of fruits that are generally well known and readily available in various seasons here in the United States. Fresh, frozen, canned, or dried, you’ve got lots of possibilities. To help you meet your nutrient needs with fruit and still keep your calorie count down, you will want to have an idea of about how many calories are in your favorites. Keep portion size in mind. You may want to copy and paste this list into your own word-processing program, print it off, and post a copy on your refrigerator to easily refresh your memory. I do have a print option on this page but it comes up with an annoying error message at the top of the page. (Anyone who could tell me what I need to do to get rid of that?) The calorie counts are based on information provided by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Agricultural Research Service. Given that the values are estimates at best because no two pieces of fruit will be exactly the same size even if both are “small”, “medium” or whatever, I’ve adjusted the calorie counts just slightly. I have rounded the values up or down by no more than 2 calories to arrive at a value that might be easier for you to remember. (I am not including fruit juices in this list because I will include them later along with other low calorie beverage choices. Also, I strongly encourage you to choose whole fruit rather than juice as much as possible.) FRUIT Apple - 1 medium - 80 Apple Sauce, sweetened - 100 Unsweetened - 60 Apricots, fresh - 1 medium - 20 Banana - 1 small- 90 1/2 medium - 50 Blackberries - 1 cup - 90 Blueberries - 1 cup - 80 Cantaloupe, cubed - 1 cup - 55 Clementines - 1 small - 35 Cherries, sweet, fresh with pits - 1/2 cup - 45 Figs - fresh - 1 medium - 35 Grapefruit - 1/2 medium - 40 Grapes - Red or Green European Varieties - 10 grapes - 35 Honeydew Melon, cubed - 1 cup - 60 Kiwi - 1 medium - 45 Mandarin Oranges, canned, juice-pack, drained - 1 cup - 70 Mango, thinly sliced - 1/2 cup - 55 Nectarine - 1 medium - 65 Orange - 1 medium - 65 Papaya - 1 cup sliced - 55 Peach - 1 medium - 40 Pear - 1 medium - 100 Pineapple, fresh 1 cup - 75 Pineapple, canned in juice - 75 Plums, fresh - 1 medium - 35 Plums, dried (prunes) 3 medium - 60 Raspberries - 1 cup - 60 Strawberries - 1 cup - 50 Tangerine - 1 medium - 35 Watermelon, diced - 1 cup - 45 Fruit can be a good source of dietary fiber. Both the fiber and the high water content of fruit can work together to manage your hunger. However, not all fruits are equally good sources of fiber. As a general rule the best sources include the berries, citrus fruits (eaten whole not as juice), and fruit eaten with the skin such as pears and apples. If you would like to know the best choices by season you may want to refer to a few of my earlier articles. Best Low Calorie, High Fiber, Summer Fruits and Vegetables Fall Fruits and Vegetables: Low Calorie and High Fiber Low Calorie, High Fiber Winter Fruits & Veggies High Fiber Low Calorie Spring Fruits and Vegetables (Remember, I adjusted the calories just slightly for the fruit listed on this page so the values may not agree exactly with what I have listed elsewhere.) If you are on a low calorie diet, do remember to balance your food choices to stay healthy. You may want to refer to my 1200 and 1500 calorie diet plans to see how many servings of fruit are recommended along with other food choices. Here’s a refresher for what nutritionists refer to as a serving of fruit: 4 oz. juice (1/2 cup) 1/2 cup sliced/chopped cooked or raw fruit (Fresh, frozen, or canned.) 1 whole medium piece of fruit 1/4 cup dried fruit These amounts provide a guideline to help you manage your food intake, keep your calorie count down, and achieve nutritional balance especially when you are on a low calorie diet. Hope this information helps. Have a great week, watch those calories, and stay healthy! calories Health Maintenance weight loss calories, Health, Maintenance, weight lossfruit snacks low calorie snacks calories 1200 calorie diet 1500 calorie diet

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More Nutritious 300 Calorie Mini Meals

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Eating nutritious small meals is a challenge on low calorie diets. In May I shared with you eight sample mini-meals of approximately 300 calories each. Today I have four more sample 300 calorie mini meals. Although you need to keep in mind how a mini-meal will fit into an overall balanced plan for the day, each of the ones I am providing here is already reasonably well balanced. For a convenient checklist you may want to refer to the 1200 and 1500 calorie diet plans I’ve provided to assess how you can best achieve overall nutritional balance.Image via Wikipedia In addition to keeping an eye on the overall nutrition for the day, do make substitutions when appropriate to meet your particular preferences and needs. For example, if you don’t like or can’t tolerate cow’s milk how about soy milk? Or almond milk? Or rice milk? I hadn’t tried almond milk till recently. I found it to be surprisingly good and nutritious. The unsweetened version has fewer calories than either cow’s milk or soy milk. In addition, it is lactose and gluten free. I’ve included almond milk in one of the mini meal suggestions. If you don’t like milk in any form you might substitute yogurt or cheese, if appropriate, for calcium and protein as well as other nutrients. Dinner/Lunch mini-meal: 1 Veggie Cake (Burger) - Southwest Style by Morningstar - 130 calories Make a small salad: 1 cup Spinach leaves raw - 6 calories 1/2 cup fresh Tomatoes chopped - 16 calories 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil vinaigrette - Wishbone is a possibility or better yet make your own - 30 1 Serving Baked Beans - (about 1/2 cup) Bush beans (vegetarian) - 130 Total Calories: 312 Protein: 13.7 grams Carbohydrates: 56.6 grams Fat: 5.8 grams Calcium: 119 mg Iron: 6.4 mg Vitamin C: 21 mg Dinner/Lunch mini-meal: 1/2 Pita (bread) sliced to make a pocket, Honey Wheat - 90 calories 1/2 cup Tuna, chunk light canned in water - 60 1 Tbsp. Light Mayonnaise - 45 calories 8 Baby carrots 1 cup Low-fat Vanilla Almond Milk - 90 Total Calories: 309 Protein: 19 grams Carbohydrates: 41.1 grams Fat: 8.1 grams Calcium: 376 mg Iron: 2.4 mg Vitamin C: 6.7 mg Breakfast Mini-meal: 1 Container All Natural Vanilla Yogurt - Dannon - 150 calories 1/4 Cup Mountain Medley Trail Mix cereal - Kashi (or the cereal of your choice) - 110 calories 1/2 Cup Raspberries - 32 (Make a yogurt parfait by layering the ingredients) Total Calories: 292 Protein: 10.7 grams Carbohydrates: 50.8 grams Fat: 6.4 grams Calcium: 265 mg Iron: 0.9 mg Vitamin C: 17.3 mg (Don’t like or can’t eat yogurt made from cow’s milk? Try Peach flavored soy yogurt with sliced peaches and trail mix. Be creative, there are probably hundreds of possible combinations of fruit, cereal, and the low fat yogurt of your choice.) Snack Mini-meal: 1 cup Sweet Cherries - fresh, 73 calories 1/2 cup Blueberries - fresh, 41 calories 2/3 cup Edamame Beans - Organic - 120 calories 1 piece Mini Babybel Light Cheese - 50 calories Take advantage of the great choices for fresh fruit (and veggies) in the summer months. Cherries and blueberries make great finger foods and a delightfully filling nutritious snack along with the edamame beans and cheese! (Edamame beans right out of the freezer and just slightly thawed are wonderful on a hot day). If you are vegan and can’t eat cow’s milk cheese how about a few nuts or veggie cheese? Total Calories: 284 Protein: 17.8 grams Carbohydrates: 38.2 grams Fat: 8.4 grams Calcium: 320 mg Iron: 2.4 mg Vitamin C: 27.1 mg Coming soon I plan on giving you some new 1200 and 1500 calorie sample menus and more healthy low calorie snacks for 100 calories or less. If you’d like additional 300 calorie mini-meals, as well as ideas on how to make mini-meals work for you, don’t miss my first post (300 Calorie Mini Meals: Eat Less but Often). Till next time, hope you are successful with healthy low calorie eating! calories Health Maintenance weight loss calories, Health, Maintenance, weight lossmini meals snacks low calorie 300 calories healthy nutritious

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More Nutritious 300 Calorie Mini Meals

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Eating nutritious small meals is a challenge on low calorie diets. In May I shared with you eight sample mini-meals of approximately 300 calories each. Today I have four more sample 300 calorie mini meals. Although you need to keep in mind how a mini-meal will fit into an overall balanced plan for the day, each of the ones I am providing here is already reasonably well balanced. For a convenient checklist you may want to refer to the 1200 and 1500 calorie diet plans I’ve provided to assess how you can best achieve overall nutritional balance.Image via Wikipedia In addition to keeping an eye on the overall nutrition for the day, do make substitutions when appropriate to meet your particular preferences and needs. For example, if you don’t like or can’t tolerate cow’s milk how about soy milk? Or almond milk? Or rice milk? I hadn’t tried almond milk till recently. I found it to be surprisingly good and nutritious. The unsweetened version has fewer calories than either cow’s milk or soy milk. In addition, it is lactose and gluten free. I’ve included almond milk in one of the mini meal suggestions. If you don’t like milk in any form you might substitute yogurt or cheese, if appropriate, for calcium and protein as well as other nutrients. Dinner/Lunch mini-meal: 1 Veggie Cake (Burger) - Southwest Style by Morningstar - 130 calories Make a small salad: 1 cup Spinach leaves raw - 6 calories 1/2 cup fresh Tomatoes chopped - 16 calories 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil vinaigrette - Wishbone is a possibility or better yet make your own - 30 1 Serving Baked Beans - (about 1/2 cup) Bush beans (vegetarian) - 130 Total Calories: 312 Protein: 13.7 grams Carbohydrates: 56.6 grams Fat: 5.8 grams Calcium: 119 mg Iron: 6.4 mg Vitamin C: 21 mg Dinner/Lunch mini-meal: 1/2 Pita (bread) sliced to make a pocket, Honey Wheat - 90 calories 1/2 cup Tuna, chunk light canned in water - 60 1 Tbsp. Light Mayonnaise - 45 calories 8 Baby carrots 1 cup Low-fat Vanilla Almond Milk - 90 Total Calories: 309 Protein: 19 grams Carbohydrates: 41.1 grams Fat: 8.1 grams Calcium: 376 mg Iron: 2.4 mg Vitamin C: 6.7 mg Breakfast Mini-meal: 1 Container All Natural Vanilla Yogurt - Dannon - 150 calories 1/4 Cup Mountain Medley Trail Mix cereal - Kashi (or the cereal of your choice) - 110 calories 1/2 Cup Raspberries - 32 (Make a yogurt parfait by layering the ingredients) Total Calories: 292 Protein: 10.7 grams Carbohydrates: 50.8 grams Fat: 6.4 grams Calcium: 265 mg Iron: 0.9 mg Vitamin C: 17.3 mg (Don’t like or can’t eat yogurt made from cow’s milk? Try Peach flavored soy yogurt with sliced peaches and trail mix. Be creative, there are probably hundreds of possible combinations of fruit, cereal, and the low fat yogurt of your choice.) Snack Mini-meal: 1 cup Sweet Cherries - fresh, 73 calories 1/2 cup Blueberries - fresh, 41 calories 2/3 cup Edamame Beans - Organic - 120 calories 1 piece Mini Babybel Light Cheese - 50 calories Take advantage of the great choices for fresh fruit (and veggies) in the summer months. Cherries and blueberries make great finger foods and a delightfully filling nutritious snack along with the edamame beans and cheese! (Edamame beans right out of the freezer and just slightly thawed are wonderful on a hot day). If you are vegan and can’t eat cow’s milk cheese how about a few nuts or veggie cheese? Total Calories: 284 Protein: 17.8 grams Carbohydrates: 38.2 grams Fat: 8.4 grams Calcium: 320 mg Iron: 2.4 mg Vitamin C: 27.1 mg Coming soon I plan on giving you some new 1200 and 1500 calorie sample menus and more healthy low calorie snacks for 100 calories or less. If you’d like additional 300 calorie mini-meals, as well as ideas on how to make mini-meals work for you, don’t miss my first post (300 Calorie Mini Meals: Eat Less but Often). Till next time, hope you are successful with healthy low calorie eating! calories Health Maintenance weight loss calories, Health, Maintenance, weight lossmini meals snacks low calorie 300 calories healthy nutritious

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Food Diaries Best for Weight Loss Success

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I’ve talked about the importance of keeping a food diary before. Now I have even more evidence of the benefits. The results of a new study funded by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research underscores the importance of keeping track of the food you eat when dieting. Study participants who kept daily food diaries lost twice as much weight or more than those individuals who did not keep records. Image via WikipediaThe study participants were asked to follow the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). This healthy diet was originally designed to lower blood pressure but has since been found to decrease the risk for heart disease and stroke as well. It is a low fat and low sodium diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables and low-fat or non-fat dairy. (The 1200 and 1500 calorie diet plans that I provide on this site are modeled after the DASH diet.) Almost 1,700 participants agreed to adopt the healthier diet and exercise. About two-thirds of the individuals lost nine pounds or more over a period of six months. However, those who kept a food diary lost as much as 20 pounds, more than twice as much as the others. So why do food diaries work? They work because you can learn so much about your food habits and eating patterns. First of all, you see where the extra calories are coming from. And you get a better sense of how your calorie intake is influenced by portion size. For many people the primary issue is portion size. Another benefit of keeping a food diary is the knowledge you gain about when you eat out of boredom or stress. So there are a number of different ways in which food diaries increase your awareness and keep you accountable for your choices. Some people struggle with keeping food diaries. It isn’t easy. It takes time, although that may be a good thing. Some of the participants noted that they thought twice about having a cookie or piece of cake because they didn’t want to have to write it down or see it in their diary. The good news is that most people tend to be creatures of habit eating a relatively small number of foods. Your regular diet may include a base of no more than about 30 to 40 different foods. So in a short period of time it may become easier to keep track of your calorie intake. I like the convenience of the service provided by MyFoodDiary.com to keep track of calories and nutrients. (See Food Diary Review: MyFoodDiary.com for my review) My husband and I enjoy eating a wide variety of foods. Although neither of us enjoys cooking every day, we do like to try new recipes and healthy food products from the supermarket when time permits. So I appreciate the convenience of having a place to record and store an ongoing record of all my food choices. The foods I eat as well as the recommendations I make with the sample menus provided on this website are all based on foods I “add to my refrigerator” on the My Food Diary website. My digital refrigerator is full of healthy foods. This makes it a lot easier to keep track of my own diet and to also come up with new ideas for sample menus. There are other sites that provide a similar service. Some are free and others have a small fee. My review of the available nutrition calculators and food diary sites online may help you choose a service that will work best for you. (Calorie Counts and Nutrients: Best Sites Online) Or you might want to just keep track of your food choices with a pen and paper. If you haven’t given food diaries a try or you have in the past without success, you may want to take a new look. Keeping a food diary takes time. But I can guarantee you it will be worth it. You will learn things about your food choices and habits that you were not aware of before. What you learn could be just what you need to know to get healthier, reduce your calorie intake, and reach your weight loss goal. Give a try! food diary journal weight loss maintain weight lose weight food habits

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